Live Love Now: Relieve the Pressure and Find Real Connection with Our Kids

by Rachel Macy Stafford

Overview

In Live Love Now, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Macy Stafford tackles the biggest challenges facing kids today and equips adults to engage them with humanness and heart, compassion and honesty to discover the deep, life-giving connection everyone is longing for.

What do young people need now more than ever? Adults who are Truth-tellers not taskmasters. Encouragers not enforcers. Guides not half-listeners. The good news is, it's not too late! No matter what's happened in the past, you can help the kids you love face the top stressors of today, including academic pressure, parental expectations, technoference, lack of purpose, isolation, and loneliness.

With illuminating, straightforward strategies, this guide reveals the importance of practicing acceptance, pursuing peace, and exploring wellness and purpose for yourself so you can be the kind of real, relevant, and lifelong role model young people are searching for. Engaging and thoughtful, each chapter includes moving stories from Rachel's personal journey as a mom of a teen and pre-teen along with illustrative narratives and prompts to help you reflect and take steps toward becoming the kind of adult young people trust.

Whether you're a parent, educator, older sibling, coach, or anyone in a role of leading young people, this book will help you meet the goal of raising and guiding young people to become resilient, compassionate, and capable adults.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310358640
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	04/28/2020
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	1,037,673
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Rachel Macy Stafford is a writer with one goal: to help people choose love as much as humanly possible. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Hands Free Mama, Hands Free Life, and Only Love Today; a certified special education teacher with a Master’s Degree in education; an in-demand speaker, and beloved blogger who inspires millions in her weekly blog posts at handsfreemama.com and through her supportive Facebook community, The Hands Free Revolution.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Truth Is the Beginning 11

Part 1 Be a Truth-Teller, Not a Taskmaster

1 Unseen and Unheard 21

Acceptance through Refuge 27

Acceptance through Reframing 34

Acceptance through Respect 44

2 Rejected 54

Belonging through Pledging 61

Belonging through Detecting 69

Belonging through Reaching 74

Part 2 Be an Encourager, Not Enforcer

3 Adrift 89

Anchoring through Empowerment 97

Anchoring through Invitation 106

Anchoring through Protection 116

4 Micromanaged 129

Independence through Confidence 138

Independence through Communication 147

Independence through Opportunity 155

Part 3 Be a Guide, Not a Half-Listener

5 Worried 169

Resilience through Overcoming 180

Resilience through Relating 189

Resilience through Listening 198

6 Not Enough 210

Worthiness through Discovery 220

Worthiness through Affirmation 229

Worthiness through Knowledge 237

Conclusion: "One Window," by Natalie Stafford 251

Afterword: We Are Okay 257

Acknowledgments 263

Editorial Reviews

'In Live Love Now, Rachel Macy Stafford does what she does best: she lovingly encourages, guides, and challenges us to be better than we've been. Through stories, reflections, and tangible tools rooted in love and solidarity, Rachel helps us find our way through the difficulties of parenting without shaming us in process. Read this book and let its kindness pour over you. Take its lessons and make your world a healthier place. Because of Rachel, I know a better way to love and practice presence is possible.'

Kaitlin B. Curtice

'Live Love Now is a gorgeous manual for how to rescue yourself, your family, and your kid from the malaise of modern parenting. You'll tear up as you feel the truth of it and feel relief at having a clear way forward. This is a must-read for all parents.'

New York Times bestselling author of How to Raise Julie Lythcott-Haims

'Through heartfelt and authentic life experiences, Rachel Macy Stafford shows that adults and children can learn and grow together, and that perfection is not required to raise healthy and capable young adults. Live Love Now will help you become a truth-teller, encourager, and guide to children, helping them find meaning and purpose for themselves instead of trying to fit into roles society tries to nudge them into. In this book, Rachel shares inspiring stories, strategies that value your own experiences, and ways to apply new concepts to the shifting challenges of raising and educating children in a high-pressure world.'

Marilyn Price-Mitchell

'Rachel Macy Stafford has an incredible capacity to turn ordinary words into soul-fulfilling inspiration, and Live Love Now is a gift to parents of teens everywhere. Stafford leans in to her own vulnerability to reach her readers right where they are: in the thick of parenting teens through what can only be described as a time of high stress and anxiety. Stafford reminds us that simple changes often yield positive results. Her focus on acceptance, encouragement, and gentle guidance reminds parents to step away from judgment (their own and those of others) and meet their teens where they are in their journey through adolescence. This is a book I will recommend over and over again.'

Katie Hurley

'Rachel Macy Stafford is unmatched in finding the beauty within the ordinary moments in life. In her newest book, Live Love Now, she not only shares the profound benefit of authentically connecting with our children, but she also provides specific ideas on living into it. If you hope to have an enduring, life-giving relationship with the young people in your life, read this book. You'll be grateful you did—and so will the kids you love.'

host of the Live Inspired podcast and bestselling John O'Leary

'We all want to raise confident, resilient teens, but in today's world, it isn't easy. This book has answers, offering guidance to help parents be the anchors and touchstones our teens need to make their way through the sometimes-stormy seas of adolescence. I hope every parent keeps a copy on their nightstand.'

Susan Stiffelman

'Loving our kids well as they grow up has more to do with who they are than with who we want them to be. While many parenting books counsel us on how we can get our kids to meet our expectations, Rachel Macy Stafford asks us to take a different approach—to see our kids for who they were created to be, lay down our expectations of who we think they need to become, and come alongside them as guides and companions on their unique journeys.'

Amy Mc Cready

'If you are the parent or grandparent of a preteen or teen, or if you have any interaction at all with teens or tweens, you need to read this book. It is packed with powerful reminders of how our words, actions, attitudes, and availability (or lack thereof) leave indelible marks on the next generation. I was inspired, convicted, and challenged by Rachel's gentle message of how to guide, encourage, and impact young adults to live with less stress and more joy. I took away many practical applications to immediately implement in our home and parenting.'

Crystal Paine

'Imagine if we gave our children what they crave above all else: our attention and a clear picture of who they really are. In Live Love Now, Rachel Macy Stafford provides us the roadmap to do just that! She offers not just advice, but scripts and mantras for changing our parenting so we see the children in front of us: kids desperate to be seen and heard for who they are. This book is a guide, a practical and accessible manual any parent can follow.'

author of The Gift of Failure: How the Best Pa Jessica Lahey

'In a world where stress and burnout make it so hard for parents and children to meaningfully connect, Live Love Now is a ray of hope. It's a book that will empower readers to adapt to the new realities of parenting and build strong relationships with the young people in their lives where they model what they want to teach them.'

Arianna Huffington

Rachel's transparent and practical insights inspire us to do just what the title promises: LIVE LOVE NOW. Reading it reminded me, yet again, why hers is one of the most important voices of our day.

Joshua Becker

In Live Love Now, Rachel Macy Stafford provides heartfelt and astute guidance for navigating the places where ourselves and our kids' selves rub up against each other, and she challenges us to put aside our own paradigms—our baggage, if you will—in order to see more clearly the gifts of our children, and to celebrate and nurture those gifts. This is a parenting book like no other you've read. It's a must read for parents of kids of all ages.

clinical psychologist and New York Times bestselli Dr. Shefali Tsabary

Rachel Macy Stafford is unmatched in finding the beauty within the ordinary moments in life. In her newest book, Live Love Now, she not only shares the profound benefit of authentically connecting with our children, but she also provides specific ideas on living into it. If you hope to have an enduring, life-giving relationship with the young people in your life, read this book. You'll be grateful you did—and so will the kids you love.

host of the Live Inspired podcast and bestselling John O’Leary

In Live Love Now, Rachel Macy Stafford does what she does best: she lovingly encourages, guides, and challenges us to be better than we've been. Through stories, reflections, and tangible tools rooted in love and solidarity, Rachel helps us find our way through the difficulties of parenting without shaming us in process. Read this book and let its kindness pour over you. Take its lessons and make your world a healthier place. Because of Rachel, I know a better way to love and practice presence is possible.

Kaitlin B Curtice

Rachel Macy Stafford is unmatched in finding the beauty within the ordinary moments in life. In her newest book, Live Love Now, she not only shares the profound benefit of authentically connecting with our children, but she also provides specific ideas on living into it. If you hope to have an enduring, life-giving relationship with the young people in your life, read this book. You'll be grateful you did—and so will the kids you love.

host of the Live Inspired podcast and bestselling John O’Leary